Dough sheeter



G. A. SEEWER DOUGH SHEETER Dec. 26, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May l2, 1959 Dec. Z6, 1961 G. A. SEEWER 3,014,433

DoUGH SHEETER Filed May 12, 1959 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Bec. 26, 196i antenas notion sr-ranrnn Gustave A.. Seewer, ileirniswilstrasse 42, Burgdorf, Bern, Switzerland Filed May l2, i959, Ser. No. $12,7ll Claims priority9 application Switzerland May 14, 1958 6 iainis. (Ci. NF7- 12) The present invention relates to apparatus for handling viscous substances. More particularly, the present invention relates to apparatus for handling viscous substances including a roller adapted to convey a viscous substance and scraping means.

The present invention relates to dough sheeters of the kind comprising a pair of superposed sheeting rolls adapted to be rotated in opposite directions and adapted i to have their direction of rotation simultaneously reversed, and two conveyor devices located on opposite sides of the lower sheeting roll. The conveyor devices act alternatively as dough feeding conveyor device and as dough removing conveyor device and each includes an endless conveying belt and a drive roll therefor located in the vicinity of the said lower sheeting roll. There is a gap between each of the drive rolls and the lower sheeting roll and according to common practicey the dough sheeter also comprises two so-called lower strip-oli blades constituting bridges located in either one of the gaps. During the use of the sheeter, one of these blades serves the purpose of leading the parcel of dough to be sheeted from the feeding conveyor device to the bite between the sheeting rolls and theother blade at the same time'serves the purpose of separating the dough from the lower sheetingA roll and of leading it to the dough removing conveyor device. The lower sheeting roll is kept clean as a result of the separation action.

In order that the lower strip-olf blades can be fully etective several conditions must be observed. These conditions include that Y (a) Theyshould bear on the lower sheeting roll with a contact pressure substantially uniform over their whole length;

(b) They should be easily removable;

(c) They should extendwith one of Vtheir longitudinal edges Very near along that portion of the adjacent conveyor belt that runs over the corresponding drive roll, without touching that portion of belt; Y

(d) They should not reduce the eiective length of th bite between the sheeting roll. Y l

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a structure for the dough sheeter such that these conditions are fullled.

To this end, the invention provides two blade supporting webs or members guided for vertical movement in grooves of pairs of Xed guiding blocks and provided each at the middle portion of its lower edge'with a lug on which a downwardly directed force is exerted by a corresponding spring bar the ends of which are held in the guiding blocks. ily carried into effect it will now be more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. l is a partial end view of an embodiment of a dough sheeter utilizing the scraper .of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of that portion of the embodiment of FIG. l which comprises the sheeting rolls, the adjacent portions of the conveyor devices and the strip-oil:` blades;

FIG. 3 is a partial end view similar to FlG. l' of a dough sheeter utilizing a modification of the scraper of FlGS. l and 2; and

FIG. 4 is partial longitudinal section similar to FIG. 2 of the modiiication of FIG. 3.

ln order that the present invention may be readi said surface,

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the reference nurnerals l and 2 designate two easings rigidly connected lto each otherV in which the superposed sheeting rolls 3 and il and the drive rolls 5 and 6 of the conveyor belts 7 and 8 are rotatably mounted. The width of the bite between the rolls 3 and 4 can be regulated by actuating a mechanism (not shown) changing the position of the upper roll 3. The means for driving the rolls 3, d, 5, d

are conveniently arranged in the casings l and 2; the arrangement of these means is such that the rolls 3 and 4 rotate in opposite directions and that their directions of rotation and also the direction of rotation of the drive rolls 5 and 6 canpbe simultaneously reversed, whereby the conveyors including the belts '7 and 8, respectively, alternatively act, one as dough feeding conveyor and the other as dough removing conveyor, or vice versa, de# pending on the directions of rotation of the sheeting rolls 3 and 4. The arrangement of these means is well known in the art and may be such as described for example in United States Patent No. 2,275,714 to Anetsberger et al., or such as described in the United States Patent No. 2,792,792 to Seewer.

The scraper includes a blade support having a lirst por-l` tion and a second portion spaced from the tirst portion; ay

blade aixed to the blade support at the front portion thereof; a stationary guide in the region of the second portion ofthe blade support. The blade support is mounted at the second portion thereof in the stationary guide slidably between an operative position in which the blade is in contact with the surface of the roller and an inoperative position in which the blade is out of contact with A spring or resilient means extends between the second portion of the blade and the stationary guide and resiliently urges the blade from inoperative position to operative position so as to resiliently engage the surface of the roller with substantially uniform pressure.

The reference numerals 9 and l0 designate the blades or lower strip-ott blades. For the purpose of illustrating one possibility, the blade 9 is shown to be riveted or screwed tothe bent-over upper edge or rst portion of an upstanding stii blade supporting means or web 11 made of sheet metal. In order to illustrate another possibility, the blade l@ is shown to be connected to the up-l per edge or first portion of a similar blade supporting means or weblZ by means of a dovetail jointltla. i

The blade supporting means or webs 1l, 12 are lodged with their lateral ends in vertical grooves 13 of stationary guide means or' guiding blocks i4 xed to either one of the casings` ll and 2; they can be removed by upward movement'. Each of the blade supporting webs ll, l2 has a sidewardly bent lug l5 at the middle of its lower edge or second portion. A spring bar 16 the ends of which are held in bores of the corresponding stationary guide means, or guiding blocks 14 exerts a downwardly directed pressure on the lug l5 whereby the corresponding strip-oil blade 9 or l@ is pressed on the lower sheeting roll 4 with one of itslongitudinal edges.

lf the operator wants to remove thestrip-oif blades he must merely tilt the spring bars or resilient means 16 away from the blade supporting Webs to disengage these bars from the lugs l5. The blades 9, in, together with their blade supporting webs l1 and 12, respectively, may then be removed by an upward displacement by which the blade supporting webs are disengaged from the grooves i3. lt is obvious that the upper sheeting roll 3 should be near to the upper limit of its range of regulation when such a removal (or insertion) is eiected.

The modication shown in FlGS. 3 and 4 is similar to the embodiment just described.

A lug i7 is welded V'to each blade end of each supporting web .il and l2 and a lug 18 is welded to each stationary aora-ias guide or guiding block 14, so that the lugs 17, i3 are superpose pairwise as shown for one pair. Each lug i3 has a threaded hole in which a stop screw 1g* may be adjusted in vertical direction and then be locked by tig tening a locking nut 20.

The strip-ofi blade 9, which in this modification is preferably made of somewhat resilient matter, is pressed on the periphery of the lower sheeting roll 4 due to the pressure exerted on the lug 15 by the spring bar 16, substantially in the same manner as in the embodiment of FfGS. l and 2. A very narrow gap 21 is left between the portion of conveyor belt 7 running over the drive roll 3- and the adjacent edge of the strip-off blade 9. The principal purpose of the adjusting means comprising the stop screws 19 is to permit the adjustment of the width of the gap 2l. The contact pressure between the blade 9 and the lower sheeting roll 4 depends on the amount of transversal fiexion of the elements 9, 1l (or li), 12) and on the force exerted by the spring bar i6. It is clear that the force exerted by the spring bar i6 must be 'sufficiently strong to warrant a contact of the lugs 17 with the stop screws 19.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range ofequivalence of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for handling viscous substances including a roller adapted to convey a viscous substance, scraping means comprising, in combination, blade supporting 'means having a first portion and a second portion spaced from said first portion; blade means affixed to said blade supporting means at said first portion thereof; stationary guide means in the region of said second portion of said blade supporting means; means mounting said blade supporting means at said second portion thereof in said guide means slidably between an operative position in which said blade means is in contact with the surface of said roller and an inoperative position in which said blade means is out of contact with said surface; and resilient means extending between said second portion of said blade supporting means and said stationary guide means resiliently urging said blade means from inoperative position to operative position so as to resiliently engage thc surface of said roller with substantially uniform pressure.

2. in an apparatus for handling viscous substances including a roller adapted to convey a viscous substance, scraping means comprising, in combination, blade supporting means having a first portion and a second portion spaced from said first portion; blade means affixed to said blade supporting means at said first portion thereof; stationary guide means in the region of said second portion of said blade supporting means; means mounting said blade supporting means at said second portion thereof in said guide means slidably between an operative position in which said blade means is in contact with the surface of said roller and an inoperative position in which said blade means is out of contact with said surface; and resilient means disengageably engaged between said second portion of said blade supporting means and said stationary guide means resiliently urging said blade means from inoperative to operative position so as to resiliently engage the surface of said roller with substantially uniform pressure, said scraping means being removable from said apparatus by disengagement of said resilient means,

3. ln an apparatus for handling viscous substances including a roller adapted to convey a viscous substance, scraping means comprising, in combination, blade supporting means having a first portion and a second portion spaced from said first portion, said blade supporting means having a lug projecting therefrom at said second portion thereof; blade means afiixed to said blade supporting means at said first portion thereof; stationary guide means in the region of said second portion of said blade supporting means; means mounting said blade supporting means at said second portion thereof in said guide means slidably between an operative position in which said blade means is in contact with the surface of said roller and an inoperative position in Which said blade means is out of contact with said surface; and resilient means disengageably engaged between the lug of said blade supporting means and said stationary guide means resiliently urging said blade means from inoperative to operative position so as to resiliently engage the surface of said roller with substantially uniform pressure, said scraping means being removable from said apparatus by disengagement of said resilient means from said lug.

4. in an apparatus for handling viscous substances including a roller adapted to convey a viscous substance, scraping means comprising, in combination, blade supporting means having a first portion and a second portion spaced from said first portion, said blade supporting means having a lug projecting therefrom at said second portion thereof; blade means affixed to said blade supporting means at said first portion thereof; stationary guide means in the region of said second portion of said blade supporting means, said guide means having a groove formed therein; means mounting said blade supporting means at said second portion thereof in the groove of said guide means slidably between an operative position in which said blade means is in Contact with the surface of said roller and an inoperative position in which said blade means is out of Contact with said surface; and a resilient bar disengageably engaged between the lug of said blade supporting means and said stationary guide means resiliently urging said blade means from inoperative to operative position so as to resiliently engage the surface of said roller with substantially uniform pressure, said scraping means being removable from said apparatus by disengagement of said resilient bar from said lug.

5. in apparatus for handling viscous substances including a roller adapted to conveyor a viscous substance, scraping means comprising, in combination, blade supporting means having a first portion and a second portion spaced from said first portion; blade means affixed to said biade supporting means at said first portion thereof; stationar guide means in the region of said second portion of said blade supporting means; means mounting said blade supporting means at said second portion thereof in said guide means slidably between an operative position in which said blade means is in contact with the surface of said roller and an inoperative position in which said blade means is out of contact with said surface; resilient means extending between said second portion of said blade supporting means and said stationary guide means resilently urging said blade means from inoperative to operative position so as to resiliently engage the surface of said roller with substantially uniform pressure; and adjusting means mounted on said guide means for adjusting the magnitude of said pressure, said adjusting means comprising first lug means afiixed to said guide means, second lug means affixed to said blade supporting means and means for adjusting the distance between said first and second lug means and for locking the said first and second lug means in position.

6. In apparatus for handling viscous substances including a roller adapted to convey a viscous substance, scraping means comprising, in combination, blade supporting means having a first portion and a second portion spaced from said first portion, said blade supporting means having a lug projectingt'nerefrom at said second portion thereof; blade means affixed to said blade supporting means at said first portion thereof; stationary guide means in the region of said secondtportion of said blade sup- 5 porting means, said guide means having a groove formed therein; means mounting said blade supporting means at said second portion thereof in the groove of said guide means slidably between an operative position in which said blade means is in contact with the surface of said roller and an inoperative position in which said blade means is out of contact with said surface; a resilient bar disengageably engaged between the lug of said blade supporting means and said stationary guide means resiliently urging said blade means from inoperative to operative position so as to resiliently engage the surface of said roller with substantially uniform pressure, said scraping means being removable from said apparatus by disengagement of said resilient bar from said lug; and adjusting means mounted on said guide means for adjusting the 15 2,275,714

lug means and for locking the said rst and second lug means in position.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 661,999 Kessler Nov. 20, 1900 1,520,602 Schmid Dec. 23, 1924 1,831,531 Harber Nov. 10, 1931 2,125,859 Liebelt Aug. 2, 1938 Anetsberger et a1 Mar. 10, 1942 

